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Film

Spinning Plates

Spinning Plates is a 2012 documentary, well worth seeing, about three very different restaurants. (The tagline is “It’s not what you cook. It’s why.”) It’s now available online via Netflix. The hour-and-a-half film shows the ambition and intensity, but also the financial, emotional, and even health concerns as the restaurateurs grown their establishments.

Film: Cooperation Among Firefighters Along the Rio Grande

In Texas, Mexican firefighters are saving the Rio Grande. Known as Los Diablos, or “the devils,” the elite firefighting crew is hired by the National Park Service to fight wildfires and conduct controlled burns along the border. The river provides water to more than 5 million people in the U.S. and Mexico, and sustaining its…

The Value of Knitting for an Afghan Refugee

The short documentary Stitches is the story of a man who finds peace in knitting—after establishing a life in exile as an Afghan refugee during the Soviet–Afghan War. The subject is the filmmaker Abdullah Abo Jassin’s uncle, who writes, “His story connects in a way with all what my family has been through over the…

Film: Will A Supposed Blockbuster Make Enough Money?

Over at Forbes, Mark Hughes writes about the financial prospects of Batman v. Superman, an incoming, big-budget film.  He’s addressing concerns that the film won’t make enough money.  The fretting reduces to the worry that since the film cost a lot to make and market (yes, indeed) it will have to do amazingly well at the box…